Page 14 of Pain
With a deep breath, he tried to calm his nerves as he walked back out to the living room. As he entered, the blond smiled at him, but the other guy, the one with the beard and ink, seemed to be sleeping in his chair. Matt raised a brow as he looked at him, then back at the blond.
"Matthew—"
"It's Matt." He walked over to his computer chair. "What were your names again?"
"I'm Carter, and Sleepy over there is Xander." Carter rolled his eyes at Xander.
Xander lifted a hand and waved, but never opened his eyes.
"And you hunt pedophiles?" Matt was trying to remember everything they said, with the exception of what Xander had told him, but unfortunately, that was the one thing he couldn't seem to forget, as much as he wanted to.
"We do, but only the worst ones. The ones who have already been through the courts, already served time, have gotten out and reoffended. There are a few cases where the offense has been so extreme that we've gone after first-timers, but those are the most horrendous cases you can imagine, infants and—"
Matt held up his hand. "I get it." He took another deep breath. "Okay, start at the beginning. How did you find me?"
"Like you, we have people searching through the dark web. One of us saw you, and like we do with all new faces, we did some background. We dig up what we can through normal channels, but when someone comes up blank like you did, with just a basic bit of information, but not much else, that's when it's handed over to me, and I dig a little deeper. As I said before, you're an amazing hacker, but I'm just a bit better." There was confidence and pride in Carter's voice. "I have to admit, you impressed me. I haven't seen someone as good as you in a long time, and I know some of the best."
The compliment shouldn't have made him smile, but it did. He was proud of his skills even if he'd never really used them for much until now. "Thanks."
"How'd you learn?"
"A friend and I used to play around, the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. Most of it is self-taught, but there was a guy in college that helped me some. You'll forgive me if I don't give his name." Matt leaned back in the chair, trying to appear more comfortable around these two than he really was.
"No, I get it, I really do." Carter grinned. "Anyway, we started to see you posting, weaving your way into the community. You'd post just enough to earn their trust, but not enough to make us think you were a serious player. I dug as deep as I could go, finally finding your true identity and that led to the news reports about your daughter. It didn't take much to link it all together."
"But if you found me…" Matt shook his head. "I should have known this would backfire."
"Actually, it hasn't. I can help you hide even better. Fill those small holes that leave you vulnerable." Carter offered.
"And in return?"
"Nothing. I'll help you either way. No matter what you decide to do with the information and offer we are about to make you." Carter glanced over at Xander, rolled his eyes, then looked back at Matt. "Your hacking abilities are amazing. We'd like you to join our team. You're already getting deeper into the dark web, and we'd like to have you keep that identity and have us help take you deeper. You'd work with our team to find the men and women who have no intention of changing. The ones that have proven time and time again they are going to re-offend. We do our homework. When we go after someone, there is no doubt that they are guilty. We go in, do what needs to be done, then leave them for the police. We've done this for over ten years now."
"I don't know. I just want to find my daughter." Matt ran his fingers through his hair. "I never wanted to get into all this. I just want my baby home."
"We know that, and finding her is always your first priority. We understand that. We'll help look. We are praying she isn't on the dark web. I know other scenarios aren't much better, but we pray she isn't…" Carter shook his head. "We have resources to help, not just with the dark web, but other places. We've already reached out to see if there is any chatter about Faith through those connections, be it the local police, FBI, or just others like you and I who use our computer skills to better the world. But while you're sitting in front of that computer, searching through all the horror, help us maybe save a few others as well."
"You'd trust me?" Matt couldn't imagine they'd let a stranger into their circle so easily.
"Not fully, yet. We have only eight members right now. We haven't brought someone new in for several years. We don't trust easily, and we are very careful about who we let join us. You’re the first we’ve come across in quite a while who has the skills and reason to help us. As of right now, we can walk out that door and you'd have no clue who we are or how to find us. If you decided to do this, to join with us, then we'd slowly integrate you with the team." Carter shrugged. "We can use your skills, but the choice is yours. Either way, we are already trying to help you find Faith and that won't change."
"And if I join and decide it's not for me?"
"Then you can leave. We'd ask you to keep everything you've learned a secret. Something you would take to the grave with you. There are too many children at risk for us to have to deal with someone leaking our information or even going public with it. As of now, the police are aware of what our team does, but they have no clue who we are. It's not without danger. As much as we like to think the police and justice system might secretly support what we do, there are laws, and we are accountable to them just like anyone else. Hacking is illegal, what Xander and some of the others do is mutilation and torture. All of us could go down at any time, but we are willing to take that risk to save the kids. It's all that matters to us," Carter explained. "You don't have to answer now. Take some time and think about it. One of us will be in contact."
"You're serious about this?"
"Very."
"Is this something I do on the side, or is it like a job?"
"It can work either way. Several of the team hold full-time jobs along with helping us, but there is a wage that goes along with it. I promise it's much more than you make at your current job." Carter smiled at him.
"How much more?" Matt wasn't going to quit work for something he didn't fully know the details on.
"Let's just say you'll make more in a year with us than you will in five with your current employer." Xander suddenly sat up, giving his two cents.
"Thought you were sleeping," Carter teased.
